Natural and Sustainable

Scrubbing and shinning you home with green cleaning products can reduce your family’s exposure to dangerous chemicals considerably. But what happens when you kids head to school? To keep noxious industrial-strength cleaners away from students, the New York City-based grassroots group Wellness in the Schools (WITS) has persuaded more than 40 area schools to switch to healthier alternatives.

Kids spend most of their waking hours in school, and the buildings are being cleaned with toxic products that leave behind residue from the chemicals added to most cleaners that aren’t health-conscious. Most of these cleaners are made to do a specific duty and not have lung, heart and skin in mind when that is done.

Aiming for a citywide move away from those conventioanl cleaners, which most have been shown to trigger asthma in chilkdren and possibly lead to chronis disease later in life, WITS promotes the use of products in lime with child-safety guidelines set by non-profit groups Grassroots Environmental Education.

If you want your child’s school to join in the green-clean movement, downloading WITS’s one-page cleaning supply purchaseing guide and passing in on to your child’s school administration is a great place to start.

The largest school system in the country was made to make the change so the smaller school systems should be eager to make the change. And since these are products that are both cost-effective and efficacious, why shouldn’t schools start replacing the old cleaners now.

**Having trouble with procrastination? Then over at Artists Passion, Wendy Withers has some steps to help you get past the problem. Read the steps here. They may help you finally get that task done that you have been putting off.**

*Natural and Sustianable Living Tip: Use natural, not artificial fragrances. Use essential oils in an oil diffuser to help cut down on smells in your home. A good mixture is teatree, lemon and rosemary during the winter months to help cut back on colds and flus.

Anyone can start living a more Eco-Friendly lifestyle. All it takes is one step in the right direction to get started. Here’s how:

1. Safer Paint: Many companies now offer no-or-low-VOC paints, like Benjamin Moore’s EcoSpec, Yolo, and Anna Sova in a huge array of colors.

2. Stain Trick: Pour boiling water on a stain spot as soon as possible and it will come out like magic. You don’t need to use soap or chemicals.

3. Greener Cleaners: Organic skin care is an easy way to decrease toxic exposure to the elements. Try any of the organic varities that are at your local health food store. There are so many to choose from and most of great for you and your baby as well.

4. Resources On Eco-Living Information: Check The Green Guide or the NRDC. For instance if your dentist is wanting to put sealants on yoru child’s teeth, you can email to ask about the safety of the sealant.

5. Fresh Air: Keep air purifiers in the bedrooms of your home. Models with medical-grade HEPA filters, to reduce allergens, and carbon filters help to reduce fumes and off-gassing.

6. Less Plastic In The Home: Switch to glass bottles for your child. Drinking out of glass is better for you and even better for your baby. Plastic contains so many harmful chemical additives and when heated they release those chemicals.

7. Food Smarts: The Environmental Working Group’s list of produce likely to contain pesticides is a helpful in figuring out what’s particualrly important to buying organic.

**Brad Pitt and Angelina took their kids and headed to Brad’s parent’s house in Missouri for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Over at Brad Pitt Watch, Randi has the whole story, read it here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Plant a garden. If you don’t have the time for a fun garden, plant a herb garden and keep it in your kitchen window. Use the herbs that grow in your herb garden in your cooking. It is a great way to add fresh herbs to any meal and also is a great stress releiver when you get to enjoy what you have grown.

• Use a dime-sized portion of shampoo and conditioner when washing your hair. Then when you get halfway through the bottle, add a little water to make it last even longer.

• Love cut flowers? Weel, most are treated with pesticides and flown thousands of miles, and usually die in about three days. Instead opt for indoor plants such as hydrangeas, which come potted.

• Try to buy local over organic when in the supermarket. Of course organic is important to your health as well as your families, but buying local you support local growers. It not only forces you to eat seasonlly, when produce is freshest, it also eliminates the energy coasts of shipping food from around the world. Also, small farmers are more apt to care about their environmental impact than industrial agriculture, since they live on the land they work.

• Bring a tote to the supermarket when you do your shopping, and try to remember plastic produce bags as well, so you are not collecting more and mroe each time.

• Test your own drinkinbg water yourself with a water purifying kit from a local hardware store. Or get an easy-to-install water filter. So instead of buying plastic bottles, use a carafe of water in the fridge.

• When you order take-out ask for the condiments of only what you plan to use. Who really needs 12 packets of soy sauce, eight packages of ketchup or four pairs of plastic knives? It’s sad to see them all end up in the trash eventually.

• Opt to pay a few cents extra to support wind-powered electricity, which comes from a renewable energy source. Your power company won’t hook you apt. or your house up to a different generator, but it does make sure that a comparable amount of wind energy is used in another place and it will overall make a tiny difference for a better world.

**Looking for tips on what stocks are up and what stocks are down? Check out Rick’s suggestion over at My Stock Winners. He states that The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO – 1,798.6) is facing long-term resistance at the 1,800 level. Read more here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Swap, don’t buy (Try eBay, Craigslist, and Freecycle.)

Volunteers, business and government working together to clean up Oregon’s waterways.

Common pullutions to oregon and the world’s water ways include:
• Cigarette butts
• Fishing line
• Styrofoam cups
• Scrap metal
• Borken glass
• Tires
• Pesticides
• Chemicals

All of these things end up in the Pregopns rivers, streams and lakes. Garbage and pollution contaminate our drinking water, poison fish and wildlife, and turn pristine waterwaterways into un contaminated trash mounts.

You can make a difference in this horrible situations or any waterway for that matter by adopting that waterway and cleaning up for future generations to come.

How it works: Oregon Adopt-A-River uses a citizen-based hands-on approach to keeping the state’s water cleans. Volunterrs take care of their favorite section of river or waterway, such as a stream or lake and they work with federal, state and local governments to clean it up. And continue to keep that waterway clean.

Adopting a waterway is simple. It only takes on person to get things started. And all it takes is gathering some friends or relatives or even neighbors together and start it up. Anyone who is an environmentally concerned citizen can Adopt-A-River. Those who adopt a waterway are called “Stream Stewards”. They choose a two-mile stretch along any waterway in Oregon. Stream Stewards make a two-year commitment and hold cleanups at least twice a year. Oregon Adopt-A-River will provide:

• A how-to manual on planning a clean up.
• Certificats of Adoption and Recognition.
• Grabage bags, stickers and window decals.
• Assistance to learn who owns and manages the land along your adopted waterways.
• Safety Tips.
• Sample news releases and suggestions on how to attract media coverage.
• Ideas on how to obtain donated supplies.
• Adviuce on trash disposal.

Oregon Adopt-A-River also serves as a resource for citizens and volunteer groups. Teaching volunteers about the importance of healthy waterways is a central part of the Oregon Adopt-A-River program.

The state of Oregon alone, has hundereds of rivers and streams. All of them need help from committd and concerned volunteers. Here’s how to get started in any state where you live: The following is a random list of states that have the Adopt-A-River program in force.

• Minnesota

• Indiana

• Oregon

• Tennessee

• Montana (Adopt-A-Fish Program)

• Florida

• Mississippi

•Illinois

• Michigan

• Outside the U.S. -Canada

To name a few. Get started now by contacting your local water shed dept. through your local national park office. Or contact your city’s chamber of commerce to find out how to get started.

**Are you a Jim Henson fan? Well, over at Artist Passion, Wendy Withers friend Adam Sageser is and has made it into a passion beyond the normal thinking. Read the whole story here and watch the video of him during his puppet show.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy things that will last over time. Think long term, even if the product is more expensive, if it will last longer than ultimately it is worth the more expensive price tag. If the product, such as clothing is made better, it will last for years and years to come.